


Hail Beltane

by tsthrace



Series: Raylla: Distinct but Connected [2]
Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fix-It of Sorts, slightly canon divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:35:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24493606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsthrace/pseuds/tsthrace
Summary: Raelle does not want to be at Beltane but comes to support Tally. She does her best to resist but gets swept into the current of the dance and eventually finds someone she wasn't expecting.In other words: Beltane is hot, y'all. That's all I'm saying.The Raelle/Scylla Beltane dance we all deserved but canon deprived us of.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Series: Raylla: Distinct but Connected [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2032195
Comments: 31
Kudos: 304





	Hail Beltane

The air hung electric and golden across the clearing. It was dusk—a sacred time, a time of power, beautiful and emerging. Creative and explosive. 

If the cadets could slide into one another’s skin (and some would learn to eventually), they would know that it wasn’t just them. Everyone was shaking. Everyone’s heart was pounding. Everyone felt the current running over and through them, whispering and teasing and guiding. Everyone was a little afraid.

Raelle broke into the gathering late, rushing to Tally’s side just as the first drum rang out. 

Tally took her hand. She turned towards Raelle, her eyes wide and excited and terrified. “Thank you.”

“Told you I was coming,” Raelle said, trying to catch her breath. She didn’t want to be there. The outlines of memories, some hers and some not, formed and dissolved in her thoughts. Porter moving like a ghost past her. His bloody face against concrete. Scylla’s bright eyes looking up, telling her she had to go. A thought just out of reach. Everything might be wrong. 

The frenzy startled her out of her darkness. The shouts and laughter, the thud of shoes hitting the grass, the swish of fancy fabric: the delighted sounds of an invitation gladly accepted. Tally dashed away towards the makeshift dance floor as quickly as Raelle had arrived. Abigail sauntered off, her eyes firmly fixed on a target. 

The drum rang out again, so deep that Raelle felt it in her bones. The ritual was beginning. She took in a breath, resisting its call, but the current swept her, guiding her to the dance floor. _Fine_ , she thought, taking a spot at the edge. She would hang back, observe, and support Tally like she promised. When the drum tugged at her once more, she crossed her arms and planted her feet. She heard a laugh and looked up. Byron stood beside her in a fabulous purple suit and looked down at her with an impish smile. 

She squinted at him and shook her head. _No._ He just shrugged, the smile growing wider.

The others did not resist, letting the slow beat carry them to spots filling a wide circle. Once they were all in place, the drum stopped, opening a long and electric silence. Wild and bright smiles spilled across faces, eyes fiery as they waited for whatever came next. Goosebumps went up Raelle’s arms, despite herself. 

The air itself seemed to hold its breath.

The sound came from deep in the earth, from the trees, from the sky—a hundred drums hit at exactly the same moment, pulsing through every atom, every cell. The world disappeared and was reborn in the same moment. It was time.

No one knew when the dance started. Bodies just started moving as if they were water, a river of joyful, teeming trouble.

Byron grabbed Raelle’s hand, but she swatted it away, a tiny grin sliding across her lips without her permission. Byron grinned, too, and shrugged again. The beat grew deeper. 

Raelle felt her head start to bob to its rhythm, then her shoulders. Byron raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t help it when she laughed. It wasn’t worth fighting. She gave up, letting herself drift into the current. She bowed to Byron who curtsied back. As the drums rumbled through her, something changed. The air pulsed, charged and thick. She pulled close to him, her hand behind his neck, his hand around her waist, their feet moving together. It would have felt strange five minutes ago, but now she needed to know him, to feel the dance between them. When she smelled the lavender and pine in his sweat, she knew it was time to move on.

She let go of him, and the river took her. She was free now. Everyone was. The drum pounded. The current danced around her, sending boys spinning from one set of arms to another, pulling girls against each other then shooting them off to explore other lines and curves. There was a pattern to the flow, an unfolding choreography to their movements. 

Raelle found herself wrapped up in a woman in a black dress and dark brown eyes. The woman smiled wickedly as she spun around behind her, her hands moving across Raelle’s stomach, her nose grazing her neck. Raelle drew in a sharp breath and smiled. She heard the woman’s clear laugh before she was swept back up into the slow rhythm. 

As she drifted with the river, she caught a scent of slate and sage in the air that made her shiver. She turned her head to follow it, but a hand grabbed her arm and pulled her into a turn. The guy was tall and bulky and seemed to have lost his jacket. His shirt was mostly unbuttoned, and his whole face was a grin, which spilled onto Raelle. She pushed him playfully and he fell to his knees. The drums paused for a moment, and the gathering seemed to take a deep breath. She ran her fingers through his hair, and as the next beat struck, she pushed him to the ground as they both laughed. 

The whole gathering was dancing as one, weaving in and out of each other, arms up, eyes bright, no one belonging just to themselves anymore. The drums carried them through steps and glides and motions that felt like rain, like storm, like the beginning of the earth. 

The drum rang out, the beat picking up. Raelle felt a drop of sweat stream down her spine.

She saw Tally’s gold dress swoop by, an intoxicated smile across her face. Raelle grinned at her but she didn’t notice. She was in another world. 

She felt the current quicken. The air sparked invisibly, power washing through the river. She turned her head, catching that scent again, sharp and bright, but it dissolved into the air. 

She let the current sweep her up again until she felt a body behind her. She leaned in, feeling the guy’s contours against her. Strong thighs and that pine scent again, but this time she lingered—long enough for a woman to join them, pressing her breasts against hers. Raelle bit her lip. They dipped together. The woman had bright brown eyes and smelled like hay and honey—not the scent she was chasing. With a grace she didn’t know she had, Raelle glided out from between them, giving them to each other.

The dance swirled around her. A woman in green jumped into Raelle’s arms, and Raelle spun her deftly into the arms of another woman who seemed to be waiting for her. A man glided past her, his hand brushing her cheek before he was gone. Everyone was moving faster and faster, together, chests heaving, sweat streaming. She saw Abigail wrapped between two men, their hands everywhere. She gave Raelle a slick smile as the three of them swayed away.

Raelle caught the slate scent again and felt herself pulled along its trail. It was familiar, like the moment just before a summer storm. Arms tugged at her, the dance carried her, and her feet followed. The scent grew stronger but she couldn’t find its origin. A flash of bright blue caught her eye, but it was swallowed by the bustle of bodies.

The drums were speeding up, syncing up to hearts pounding and ready. Eyes were wild. The river threatened to flood.

Then Raelle spotted her, those blue eyes shining through the crowd. Scylla wore all yellow, suit pants and a buttoned vest, but no shirt underneath—nothing underneath. She was letting herself be pulled across the floor by a boy in black, but her eyes were locked on Raelle. Her quiet smile had spread to her eyes, and it spelled joy and mischief.

Raelle couldn’t get there fast enough. Whatever had happened between them before, whatever doubts Raelle had, they didn’t matter while the drums rolled and thundered. In that moment, there was only the dance.

A labyrinth of bodies moved between them. As Raelle tried to reach Scylla, the current flowed into eddies of arms and steps that caught her in a spin then spit her out again, turned around and lost. The scent was everywhere now, but Scylla was gone. Raelle let out a desperate breath. She needed to find her before the drums stopped.

A hand reached around her and snaked up her stomach and over the bare skin between her breasts. 

“Hey, beautiful.” Scylla’s lips brushed against her ear.

Raelle closed her eyes, feeling a shiver move through her. The drums were galloping now, and Raelle suddenly needed Scylla against her. She spun around and pulled Scylla in. Sweat streamed down the sides of their faces. Their chests heaved against each other. The river sped around them, its energy rippling through them. 

Scylla’s usually playful eyes glowed with a focus Raelle had never seen in her before. “I want you,” she whispered.

They slowed even as the drums were racing. Raelle moved her hand under Scylla’s vest, her fingers sliding up her spine, slippery with sweat. She drank in that stone and earth scent, wanting to taste it. She drew in closer, her lips reaching for Scylla’s, but Scylla pulled back with a wild smile. “Not yet,” she whispered. Her eyes glanced past Raelle, as if she could see the atoms around them rearranging.

The drums stopped. The world went silent. The air shifted from thick, languid longing into sharp anticipation. Bodies trembled, mouths gasped with an unquenchable want. Nobody moved.

Then the flood broke. 

Scylla’s mouth was on Raelle’s. They pulled at each other frantically, Raelle’s hand behind Scylla’s neck, Scylla’s hand fumbling for the buttons of Raelle’s jacket. Raelle stepped back, her breath ragged. 

“Not here,” she said then glanced towards the edge of the forest where others were slipping away into the shadows.

Scylla nodded. Her face was as open as Raelle had ever seen it. No playfulness on her lips. No mischief in her eyes. Just Scylla laid bare, suddenly soft but glowing with an urgent desire.

Raelle took a moment to soak it in. Her heart pounded in her chest. Whatever Scylla did, whatever she was hiding, the dance had devoured it, at least for now. All that was left was their need, both timeless and temporary.

Raelle swallowed and looked up. Scylla took in a deep breath then opened her mouth as if to say something, but Raelle shook her head. _No._ She took her hand, and they disappeared into the darkness of the trees.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this, drop me a kudos!  
> If you have feelings, drop me a comment!
> 
> I'm always open to fanart of my work and am happy to support your work in whatever way you prefer to be supported. Drop me a message at tsthrace at gmail or tsthrace on tumblr.


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